EASTHAMPTON — When it comes to local immigration matters, the City Council has ruled that it has the authority to direct police operations and set policy.
In a 6-3 procedural vote Wednesday night, the council rejected a majority report from the Rules and Government Relations Committee, which decided in a March 6 vote that the council does not have the authority to issue an ordinance directing the day-to-day operations of the police department.
That ruling was based on the opinion of City Solicitor John Fitz-Gibbon, who said last year that under Easthampton’s home rule charter, only the mayor or police chief has that authority.
Wednesday’s vote and the rejection of that opinion through rejection of the majority report, is part of a larger discussion and debate in the city around a proposed ordinance to become a “safe city.” The ordinance would prohibit city resources from being used for federal immigration enforcement.
In a February 2017 letter, Fitz-Gibbon wrote that the city’s charter separates executive and legislative powers, delegating executive powers to the mayor or mayor-appointed police chief, and legislative powers to the City Council. The letter stated that in Easthampton’s form of “strong mayor” government, the City Council’s authority is largely limited to a check on the mayor’s executive function.
“Based on the foregoing, it is my opinion that the Charter clearly places the authority to set policies and direct day-to-day operations of city agencies (in this case, the Police Department headed by a mayoral appointment) to the Mayor,” he wrote.
Fitz-Gibbon was not present at Wednesday’s meeting.
“The idea that Easthampton’s strong mayor form of government disqualifies us from being able to pass such an ordinance is one that I meet with a heavy dose of skepticism,” Councilor Thomas Peake said Wednesday.
In October 2017, the Easthampton Community Coalition group filed a petition requesting that either the council issue an ordinance or the mayor issue an executive order to implement sanctuary city protections, bringing the issue back up for discussion by the council.
The early March meeting of the subcommittee was aimed at answering the question of whether the council has the power to pass such an ordinance, not whether it should. Wednesday’s City Council procedural vote was also directed at that question, though during public comment, community members spoke strongly for and against the sanctuary city ordinance.
Northampton civil liberties lawyer Bill Newman, who has been assisting the Easthampton Community Coalition, asked the council on Wednesday to separate the question of whether the council can procedurally pass such an ordinance from the ordinance itself.
“As a matter of civic engagement, it was a very impressive consideration and debate,” Newman said Thursday. “The council was rightfully very concerned about making a decision that would have precluded almost all of its legislative authority going forward.”
Councilor Daniel Rist, who is chairman of the rules committee, said at the meeting that the city’s charter will be up for revision in 2020, which will give more opportunity to clarify procedural questions like this one. He said he and council president Joseph McCoy agreed with Fitz-Gibbon’s interpretation of the charter as the city’s attorney.
“I think it was a mistake,” Rist said of Wednesday’s vote. “I think we should have listened to our city attorney.”
He said that because the procedural question had come up specifically in relation to the safe city ordinance, for him they were not two separate issues.
Councilors Rist, McCoy, and Daniel Carey voted to accept the subcommittee opinion that the council has limited authority, while councilors Homar Gomez, James “J.P.” Kwiecinski, Salem Derby, Margaret Conniff, Owen Zaret and Peake voted to assert the council’s authority and reject the subcommittee opinion.
Newman said he had the sense that the procedural vote may open up the probability of a safe city ordinance being introduced that will be subject to fewer objections going forward.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.